Saturday, May 28, 2011

Just dropped in to say hi; I'm on my wife's laptop here in Moab, Utah. We've done a lot of goofing off, seen some interesting rock formations, some Anasazi ruins, a few critters. Having a good time just relaxing and seeing the sights, also went to the art festival happening this weekend. Should have a few interesting photos when we get back in a few days.
Hope you're all having a good weekend.
W00t!

Wednesday, May 25, 2011

Finally got some sunlight; the past few days have been almost constant rain, until we are having some flooding in some areas of Utah. When the ground dries a bit over the next few days, I hope to get the garden ready. There are lots of perennial herbs that I have been able to use, and some of the greens, but it has been a bit chilly for stuff like tomatoes, peppers, and squash.

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Some areas of the country are getting hit pretty hard; my best wishes go out to the flood victims of Mississippi, and for the people in Missouri who are fighting with tornadoes.

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I've been getting stuff ready for a vacation; my wife and I are leaving for southern Utah tomorrow morning, and will get back sometime Monday. Hope to have a good time and bring back a few interesting photos.

A CW song by actor Christian Kane; he may be familiar to you from the series Angel, and is currently one of the main characters in the series Leverage.

One of my favorites from a blues group that has been around for a while.

An old blues song from one of the greatest of the blues ladies. Janis looked like ten miles of bad road, and had a voice like the day after too much booze and cigarettes, but she sang with a passion and feeling that gave her music a depth of soul that most singers only can aspire to.

Thursday, May 05, 2011

Been having joint problems; until a few days ago the air pressure was on a roller coaster and we were alternating with snow, rain, and sunny weather. It seems to have leveled out a bit for now, so we are getting some sun.
Friday night my wife and I had to go out of town for a bit when she got out off work. She had some accounting to do over in Ft. Duchesne, so we drover over to there. Ran into some snow on the way there, but it wasn't too bad, just a mild blizzard.

On the way back however, it was a different story. We were coming down Daniels Canyon at about midnight and ran into a whiteout. The snow was coming down hard, and had enough wind to blow it horizontally, and directly at us. It was impossible to see past the hood of my vehicle. The road was covered with a thin layer of ice and snow, and the paint on the road was invisible, and we couldn't see far enough to see where the road ended and the dropoff began. The only thing I could make out, with my window rolled down, was the faint texture differnce on the road where the rumble strips were, and some times when the snow drifted higher, they were invisible. We crept along like that down the canyon, rarely going over 5 mph until we got into Heber, where it was snowing a little lighter, and we could see the road. From there we were able to drive over the Wasatch Mountains and down into Salt Lake, but we didn't get home until after 1:30 AM. A long stressful night. I've been in whiteouts before, and they are nasty.

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The military got Osama finally. I'm not going to shoot off a rocket, or celebrate, any more than I would celebrate after shooting a rabid skunk. The garbage has been taken out, so let's move on.
And quit giving the guy in the White House credit for it; it was done by our people in uniform, not that wishy-washy character who would have probably apologized if 9-11 had happened under his watch, and then gone on another golf vacation.

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I notice most of the media is still ignoring the investigation of Project Gunwalker; if you're unfamiliar with it, it was a project where the ATF ordered a number of gun sellers to sell firearms to people they knew were smuggling guns to the Mexican drug cartels, and then lost track of them. The guns numbered in the thousands, and one of them was used in the murder of a border patrol officer. The ATF denied it for some time, until some ATF whistle blowers agreed to testify. When the ATF when called on it, they refused to cooperate. It has also been shown that it was run by the Department of Justice, who is also refusing to cooperate with Congress, even after an order from a judge. The Obama administration has been doing its best to block all investigation, but luckily some of the representatives have been pursuing it. Holder testified yesterday, under order of Congress. He claims to know nothing about it, and never heard of it, though it has been running since 2009. He is either incompetent, or a liar. My personal opinion is that it could go either way, but I tend to lean toward the later. This administration and the ATF are both very much against firearms and the Second Amendment, and have been trying to blame the American guns in Mexico on American gun sellers, in order to chip away at the Second Amendment in the same way they have been doing to the rest of the Bill of Rights.

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My brother had to have some "minor" surgery (minor to anyone but the patient, anyway), so I've been trying to be available in case he needs anything. His birthday is in a few days, so this is sort of a bummer for him.

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Sort of a mixed bag in this playlist.

"Guantanamera" by Trini Lopez
"Here I Go Again" by Whitesnake
"Magical Mystery Tour" by The Beatles
"Nothing Is Easy" by Jethro Tull
"This Ain't the Summer of Love" by Blue Öyster Cult
"I'll See You In Hell" by Lewis Ray Cammarata
"The Man Who Shot Liberty Valence" by Gene Pitney
"Night Moves" by Bob Seger
"Never Comes the Day" by The Moody Blues
"I'm So Lonesome I Could Cry" by Hank Williams

One of my favorites of his.

One of my favorite groups of all time.

If you can't identify with this one, you must not have been around much.